Rossetti and Pride and Prejudice Plan - Points of View

Last lesson, we created an essay plan to discuss Points of View in Rossetti's work as well as in Pride and Prejudice.

In Rossetti's work, we came up with a few ideas for Points of View. In Cousin Kate, one idea was 'Society's View', which were represented by 'the neighbours', who call the narrator an 'outcast' for having sex out of wedlock, yet call Kate 'good and pure', event though she has done no different to the narrator except get married before having sex.

Another view was Rossetti's view, which could have been represented through the narrator, which could be shown through the fact that it is written in first person. The narrator believes there is nothing wrong with sex out of marriage, because as a result of it, she has her son, who is her 'pride'. She goes against the classic fallen woman idea.

There is also a feminist view, found in Pride and Prejudice, Goblin Market and Cousin Kate. In Cousin Kate, the man ruins the narrator's reputation, while he has no negative consequences. The narrator was merely his 'plaything', which he could 'cast aside' as he pleases, making her an unclean thing. In Goblin Market, 'Goblin Men' are the only men in the whole poem, so are representative of all men. The Goblin Men break up the women, who are close and slept 'cheek to cheek'. They make Laura a fallen woman, her hair 'grew grey' and she grows old. In Pride and Prejudice, men have ownership over women. However, women can resist, unlike in Rossetti's work, as marriage proposals are declined by women.